I remember our first all-out, full family, political dinner table battle. My mother is a hardened Democrat and my father, an investment banker, is the type of Republican that truly believes he can do more with his money than the federal government can. The differences in opinion were dramatic. One believed it was our duty as a financially stable household to do whatever was needed to help those with less and the other believed our taxes could be put to better use, solving humanity’s problems in the long run without raising taxes.

I grew up sitting between the two. The discussions were incredible.There were, however, two things they agreed upon: we were not endowed with the omniscient knowledge needed to pass judgment on same sex couples who wished to marry, and we could never know what it felt like to be another woman grappling with her right to choose, or not to choose.

So you see, I was raised fiscally conservative and social liberal. I am, so it seems, two party platforms wrapped into one person.In the City of Alexandria, there is, in my personal opinion, a defining split when it comes to the political affiliations of our citizenship. Alexandria is clearly a progressive and liberal city, but there are those of us who maintain a conservative ideology when it comes spending. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

There’s nothing wrong with that unless those moderates, like me, are not represented at the highest levels of local government.

I’ve said time and time again that the very essence of democracy is the promotion of argument and opposition, a careful dance between two parties that plays out like a mathematical equation. Democrats believe X. Republicans believe Z. Together, through discussion, we are tasked to find the middle ground, a solution that represents our complete constituency — Y.

What happens when one party governs, when one party maintains full authority to design the budget, to hire and fire? With one ideology above the rest? It means a significant portion of the citizenship has say only in open sessions of the council, where sometimes words are barely worth the paper they’re written on. We rely on our elected officials to represent our point of view and we believe they opine in private, alongside the opposition, so as to reach a consensus.

One party above all else represents a scary proposition for our city, but even two parties that cannot respect each others’ position are without merit and do no good.

“Civility”, as Mayor Bill Euille once said, “should be the rule of the day.” So what would make our city council a civil and intellectually stimulating place? Two parties, equal under Alexandria’s flag, that respect one another enough to seek counsel and ask for advice; two parties that fully represent the people, whose members are neither embedded for life in city politics nor persuaded by special interests.

In a Democracy we are afforded the types of freedom that are scarcely seen across the globe. We are afforded the opportunity to question our elected officials and to be represented by elected officials that we feel truly represent us.

Ask yourself not “What party represents me?” but instead “What does a perfect city council look like?”

What does it look like? We’ll see in November but remember this: you, as Alexandrians, are free to make that decision on your own and no political party should pressure you into thinking otherwise.

- Scott Gordon, 2012 Republican candidate for city council

Related Articles

Share

About Author

Alexandria Times Staff

(3) Readers Comments

Paul Demetrios-Canne

February 28, 2012 at 8:58 am

This seems to be a pretty smart fellow, someone who could a lot of good on City Council, unlike his predecessors. Frank Fannon is “ok”, Alicia Hughes is terrible, I’m sorry to see Donley and Krupicka go.

Let’s put Gordon, Holihan, Chapman on the Council, get rid of Pepper and Hughes.

Gail Gordon Donegan

February 28, 2012 at 9:52 pm

Hughes needs to go for sure, but there’s no way she can get re-elected anyway. Sean Holihan and John Chapman will make great new additions to the council. Fannon will have a tough race. This race will have huge turnout and he’s associated with Hughes, which is the kiss of death. I’ll be curious to see if the Alexandria Republican Committee puts Hughes on their ticket. There are many Dems running, including current council members Paul Smedberg and Del Pepper, former council members Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson, plus school board member Arthur Peabody, Planning Board member Donna Fossum, and other newcomers such as Boyd Walker, Charles Sumpter … and I think that’s all for now. It’s a big field so everyone will find someone they like.

J H Loomis

March 1, 2012 at 6:59 pm

Everyone is a Democrat in Alexandria since the past council voted to sacrifice Alexandria’s independent voice and link all local elections to national elections – all because Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson lost in a fair and square election. This election I am voting to remove all sitting incumbents who gave our local voice away. And although I am not enthusiastic about Ms. Hughes, Mr. Lovain rates even lower with me because of his ungentlemanly, sour grapes conduct after the last election.